Learn to Write Chinese Characters

by Johan Björkstén

• ISBN13: 9780300057713
• ISBN10: 0300057717
• Format: Trade Paper
• Copyright: 1994-08-31
• Publisher: Yale University Press

Summary

An engagingly written, pedagogically correct, and highly informative self-instructional tool for students of Chinese as well as for calligraphy enthusiasts who do not speak Chinese. Characters are one of the most fascinating aspects of the Chinese language and occupy a prominent place in Chinese culture. Good handwriting is also very important in learning Chinese: the strokes that make up the characters must be written in a certain rigidly specified order, and they must also be written in a special way.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments	ix
Introduction	1	(3)
The History and Structure of Characters	4	(15)
Looking Up Characters in a Dictionary	17	(2)
The Aesthetics of Characters: Alive on Paper	19	(8)
Writing Characters	27	(23)
The Tools of Writing	27	(2)
How to Practice	29	(2)
The Basic Strokes	31	(12)
Some Composite Strokes	43	(3)
Stroke Order	46	(4)
The Aesthetics of Characters: Composition	50	(13)
Some Characters Have a Key Stroke	50	(2)
Characters Fit in Imaginary Squares	52	(2)
Repeated Elements Are Executed with Variation	54	(1)
Some Characters Have Left and Right Parts	55	(2)
Some Characters Have Left, Middle, and Right Parts	57	(1)
Some Characters Have a Top-Bottom Structure	58	(1)
Framed Characters	59	(1)
A Few Difficult Characters	59	(4)
The Radicals	63	(27)
A Poem and More Characters to Practice	90	(23)
``A Thought on a Still Night''	90	(5)
Characters to Practice	95	(18)
Suggested Readings	113	(2)
Guide to Chinese Pronunciation	115	(4)
Index of Characters	119